The present invention relates to methods of presenting images of assumed scenes made up of a plurality of selected portions of real-world scenes, and more particularly to methods of graphic design involving visual representations comprising a combination of portions of several existing structures or scenes.
In architectural and environmental design, the most common means of visually expressing a design concept is that known as the architectural rendering. While such graphic depictions have over the years served to convey the designer's ideas for proposed new or altered structures or other areas of environmental design, certain disadvantages are immediately apparent. For example, the rendering can never be more than an abstraction of the original ideas since the actual object or scene does not yet exist. Also, the fidelity of the rendering is dependent in large part on the graphic skills and expressive capabilities of the designer.
A further limitation inherent in a drawing or rendering is the "architectural vocabulary" of the designer. That is, vague or redundant architectural cliches such as lighting fixtures, store graphics, fountains and sculpture tend to appear time and again in the renderings of many designers. If the designer's vocabulary is limited to contemporary methods of architectural expression and graphic techniques, then his projects will reflect these limitations. The designer's capacity for integrating, in a comprehensive manner, large amounts of new, unexplored visual information presents a further limitation on the efficacy of his graphic renderings. Traditional graphic techniques and methods of expression limit the designer's ability to deal effectively with large quantities of new information.
Past attempts to provide more effective methods of dealing with design problems have included superposing graphic renderings of proposed alterations or additions with an actual structural as seen through a viewing device, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,357. Also, such things as various colors or exterior textures may be illustrated for ease of visualization by superposition of filters or overlays with drawings or photographs of proposed or existing structures, or the like. Similar techniques have also been applied to fields other than architectural or environmental design as, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,336,508 and 3,336,681. In the former, a viewing system is provided for superposing images, primarily for theatrical purposes, to permit the combination of various foregrounds and backgrounds. In the latter, a plurality of transparent slides are superposed to construct a composite image of facial features which may be varied by changing one or more of the slides being projected to a slide with a different content. None of the aforementioned systems, however, provides for the combination of any selected portions of pre-recorded scenes into a composite scene by superposition of images having portions selectively masked from view.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel method of presenting visual displays of proposed designs in the architectural and environmental fields.
A further object is to provide an architectural design method whereby features of existing structures and actual scenes may be combined in a visual display to create novel, yet precisely defined effects.
Another object is to provide a method of visually presenting architectural and environmental designs without reliance entirely upon graphic renderings.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.